Before you take another sip of that aspartame-laden diet soda, here are 14 reasons to rethink that drink:

1. Only one year after aspartame was approved by the FDA, its own task force learned that some of the original data showcasing aspartame’s safety had been falsified to hide results showing animals fed aspartame had developed seizures and brain tumors. The artificial sweetener was never recalled.

2. Ironically considering its name and reputation as a "diet" drink, drinking diet soda is more likely to make a person fat. It is linked to a 34% increase of metabolic syndrome, along with its telling symptoms of high cholesterol and abdominal obesity. Just two cans of diet soda daily has been linked to a 500% increase in waist size.

3. Aspartame has been linked to the formation of various types of cancer. According to Randall Fitzgerald, author of The Hundred-Year Lie, some of the cancers linked to aspartame consumption include: brain, liver, lung, kidney and lymphoreticular cancer.

4. There is an increased risk (43%) of heart attack or stroke when a person drinks more than one diet soda daily.

5. According to the authors of the book Hard to Swallow: When a diet drink containing aspartame is stored at 85 degrees Fahrenheit for a week or longer, "There is no aspartame left in the soft drinks, just the components it breaks down into, like formaldehyde, formic acid, and diketopiperazine, a chemical which can cause brain tumors. All of these substances are known to be toxic to humans."

7. By 1991, the National Institutes of Health had cataloged 167 adverse effects linked to aspartame use. A year later, the US Air Force issued warnings to pilots not to fly after ingesting aspartame. By 1994 the UD Department of Health and Human Services had linked aspartame to 88 toxicity symptoms.

11. Research shows that aspartame in diet soda causes an imbalance in brain hormones, specifically dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine is a brain chemical that helps us to feel good. Impaired dopamine production is involved in brain disorders like Parkinson’s disease. Serotonin is a "feel good" brain neurotransmitter that reduces pain and the likelihood of experiencing depression. Low levels of serotonin have been linked with aggressive behavior.

12. Cans used for soda are lined with plastic containing bisphenol-A (BPA). BPA is a known hormone disruptor that in study after study has been linked to an increasing list of health problems and diseases. It damages the reproductive system in women and causes low sperm count and prostate cancer in men. It has been linked to early puberty, obesity, breast cancer, and other conditions.

13. Diet soda as a mix for alcoholic beverages worsens hangovers. According to research at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia, diet soda increases the rate at which alcohol enters the bloodstream and worsens hangovers.

14. Mold inhibitors added to diet soda cause severe cell damage, according to research by Peter Piper, professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, at the University of Sheffield, UK.